What is the message of August 20 for the Hungarians living in Slovenia?

“Wherever we may live in the Carpathian Basin or the world, August 20 finds us Hungarians together,” Péter Szilágyi, a deputy state secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office, said in Dobrovnik, in eastern Slovenia, on Sunday, marking the national holiday celebrating Hungarian statehood.

“The message of August 20 is that we should go back to the foundations, examine them and examine ourselves in relation to these foundations,” Szilágyi told a ceremony.

Wherever they may live in the world, Hungarians are bound together by those foundations which can be recognised by their shared language, their uniform culture, traditions and in history, he said.

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“In Dobrovnik there is no need to emphasise the importance of learning traditions, following the customs of our ancestors or unity in action,” he said. Szilágyi pointed out that the village of Dobrovnik was not only preserving the cultural heritage of Slovenia’s Prekmurje (Muravidék) region, but also passing it on to future generations.

The Hungarians of the Carpathian Basin have the Hungarian community of Prekmurje to look to as an example when it comes to their achievements in recent years, Szilágyi said. “The Hungarians living here regularly demonstrate their attachment to the land they live on,” he added.

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Source: MTI